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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Staples Destroys Forests Through Old-Growth Paper Sales

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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Portal

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

11/01/00

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

Few of the World's ancient forests are likely to remain standing

unless we come to terms with our over-consumption of paper. The

following piece highlights paper consumption, providing shocking

facts such as pulp mills in the United States consume more than

12,000 square miles of forest each year and almost half of all trees

logged are turned into paper. After a string of huge victories

against other merchants of old-growth forest products by Rainforest

Action Network and others, the Coastal Rainforest Coalition is

focusing upon Staples -- the largest and fastest growing office super

store in the world. They are planning a day of action against

Staples on November 15th-demanding that Staples dramatically cut wood

and paper products made from old growth fiber and other commitments.

Below is information regarding how you can get involved in this

exciting and important campaign.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: STAPLES - NUMBER 1 IN FOREST DESTRUCTION PAPER DETROYS

FORESTS, STAPLES DESTROYS FORESTS

Source: Coastal Rainforest Coalition

Date: October 11, 2000

Join us on the National Day of Action November 15, 2000 to tell

Staples to Stop destroying Endangered Forests

The Paper Story

Every day we are losing more of our forests to the production of

paper products. Paper production is one of the primary reasons our

forests are being clear-cut at such a dizzying pace. And many of

these products - office paper, post-it pads, paper towels, napkins,

etc. - are used once and then thrown away.

The pulp and paper industry is the largest single industrial wood

consumer in the US and in the world. Pulp mills in the United States

consume more than 12,000 square miles of forest each year; almost

half of all trees logged are turned into paper, and the percentage is

increasing.

Currently, 90% of the world's paper is manufactured from wood pulp,

but in the United States less than 1% of the total pulp produced is

manufactured from nonwood, tree free alternatives. In the US, our per

capita paper usage tips the scales at 735 pounds of paper per year.

More than half of our paper in the US comes from Southern forests,

the region containing the greatest biodiversity in the continental

US. Office paper also contains pulp made from old growth trees -

such as majestic 1000-year-old Douglas firs from the Pacific

Northwest, or Canada's Great Bear Rainforest.

Paper comprises from 40 to 50 percent of the trash in typical

landfills.

AND THE STAPLES STORY

Staples is the largest and fastest growing office super store in the

world, with 1,100 stores and locations in 48 states plus Washington,

DC and the UK, Canada, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands. Staples

sale of paper is driving the destruction of our endangered forests

worldwide including in US National Forests, the forests of the

southeast, and old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest.

Staples also sells desks and other wood products made by Sauder

Industries - a company that purchases wood coming directly from the

Great Bear Rainforest, the largest intact temperate rainforest in

North America.

Staples is opening new stores at an alarming rate: during 1999

Staples opened its 1000th store and in a single day opened 22 retail

stores. As the number of Staples stores increases so does the number

of forests destroyed.

Environmentalists have been trying to persuade Staples to stop

selling old growth for over a year. Staples has refused.

It is critical that we demand that Staples that stop destroying

forests. We are calling on Staples to:

-Immediately phase out of all wood and paper products made from old

growth fiber.

-Immediately phase out of all wood and paper products made from fiber

from US public lands.

-Set a target of 50% post consumer content for all paper products and

begin an immediate phase out of all products that are 100% virgin

wood fiber.

-Make available 100% post consumer paper and paper that is made from

agricultural fiber in all stores or other points of sale.

-Educate all employees, customers, and suppliers on the benefits of

recycled paper, recycling, the availability of alternative fibers,

and the benefits of healthy forest resources.

We need to act now. Experts expect worldwide paper and paperboard

consumption will increase 90% from 1993 levels by 2010.

What you can do:

- Organize an event in front of a local Staples to educate consumers

and pressure the company. A National Day of Action is being planned

for November 15, 2000. Contact us for more information.

- Alert the media

- Organize a letter writing campaign or a call/fax in day to Staples

- Write letters/op-eds or even articles for your local papers.

- Do outreach to local community organizations, religious

organizations and community leaders. Ask them to get involved to save

endangered forests.

Please contact Liz Butler, Coastal Rainforest Coalition,

liz@coastalrainforest.org, 206.781.1107 to get an action packets, get

involved in the day of action, or receive information. To sign up for

a listserv that will keep you up to date on the campaign send an

email to endangered-forests-subscribe@egroups.com

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For additional forest conservation news & information please see the

Forest Conservation Archives & Portal at URL= http://forests.org/

Networked by Forests.org, Inc., gbarry@forests.org